😎 Healthy Mind In A Healthy Body

We’re here to make health and productivity crazy simple, and it’d be remiss of us to ignore the importance of a healthy mind in a healthy body. Welcome to Psychology Sunday!

❓DID YOU KNOW…?

The 8-minute piece of music “Weightless” by Marconi was created scientifically to lower the heart rate and relax the listener. How did they do it? You can read the British Academy of Sound Therapy’s explanation of the methodology here, but important results of the study were:
 

• “Weightless” was able to induce greater relaxation levels than a massage (increase of 6%).

• “Weightless” also induced an 11% increase in relaxation over all other relaxing music tracks in the study.

• “Weightless” was also subjectively rated as more relaxing than any other music by all the participants.

Try it for yourself!

Isn’t that better? Whenever you’re ready, read on…

❗️ IN THE NEWS:

Recently released data has shown that a strong theory of mind at age 8 correlates strongly to academic achievement at age 18

Read the news article / read the study / what’s theory of mind, in this context?

Definitely interesting implications for parenting styles!

😎 MAIN FEATURE

Today we’re going to share a technique for dealing with difficult emotions. The technique is used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and it’s called RAIN:
 

• Recognizing: ask yourself “what is it that I’m feeling?”, and put a name to it. It could be anger, despair, fear, frustration, anxiety, overwhelm etc.

• Accepting: “OK, so, I’m feeling ________”. There’s no point in denying it, or being defensive about it, these things won’t help you. For now, just accept it.

• Investigating: “Why am I feeling ________?” Maybe there is an obvious reason, maybe you need to dig for a reason—or dig deeper for the real reason. Most bad feelings are driven by some sort of fear or insecurity, so that can be a good avenue for examination. Important: your feelings may be rational or irrational. That’s fine. This is a time for investigating, not judging.

• Non-Identification: not making whatever it is you're feeling into a part of you. Once you get too attached to “I am jealous”, “I am angry”, “I am sad” etc, it can be difficult to manage something that has become a part of your personality; you'll defend your jealousy, anger, sadness etc rather than tackle it.

As a CBT tool, this is something you can do for yourself at any time. It won’t magically solve your problems, but it can stop you from spiralling into a state of crisis, and get you back on a more useful track.

As a DBT tool, to give this its full strength, ideally now you will communicate what you’re feeling, to somebody you trust, perhaps a partner or friend, for instance.

Humans are fundamentally social creatures, and we achieve our greatest strengths when we support each other—and that also means sometimes seeking and accepting support!

Do you have a good technique you’d like to share? Reply to this email and let us know!

📚 RESOURCE:

We love this free educational channel—it covers many topics, and its main goal is that people should ultimately live better, more enriching lives.

In this case, here’s a quick (4:16) overview to demystify therapy for anyone who’s is wondering if it might help them:

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Stop Overthinking - by Nick Trenton

This book is exactly what it says on the tin. We are given twenty-three techniques to relieve stress, stop negative spirals, declutter your mind, and focus on the present, in the calm pursuit of good mental health and productivity.

The techniques are things like the RAIN technique above, so if you liked that, you’ll love this. Being a book rather than a newsletter, it also takes the liberty of going into much more detail—hence the 200 pages for 23 techniques. Unlike many books, it’s not packed in fluff either. It’s that perfect combination of “to the point” and “very readable”.

If you’ve read this far into the review and you’re of two minds about whether or not this book could be useful to you, then you just might be overthinking it 😉

Check Out “Stop Overthinking” On Amazon Now!

Hoping you have a calm and clear day,

The 10almonds Team

🔴 JUST 1 CLICK 🔴 

DISCLAIMER: None of this is medical advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not medical advice or a solicitation to buy any supplements or medications, or to make any medical decisions. Always be careful. Always consult a professional. Additionally, we may earn a commission on some products/services that we link to; but they’re all items that we believe in :)